


Falling Is Like This

by Edie_Sunshine



Series: Just Two Guys [8]
Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Minor Character Death, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:08:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edie_Sunshine/pseuds/Edie_Sunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of As Is and How Long Can It Last, the boys finally catch up with Nathan Zobelle. </p><p>Title comes from an Ani Difranco song- see notes for lyrics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling Is Like This

'Bingo!' 

Juice sits back in his chair with a whoop and a cheer, looks around for someone to notice but he's all alone in the clubhouse. 

Oh well. 

There's Church tonight, he can share his news with all of his brothers then. He grabs a celebratory beer and can barely stop grinning long enough to take a swig. 

Zobelle's not as clever as he thinks he is...

&&&

Church that evening is a muted affair: Chibs and Jax are up North, dealing with IRA business. 

Juice can hardly sit still when he announces to the assembled Sons that he finally tracked down an address for Nathan Zobelle. A cheer goes up. 

It's a permanent address, not a flop house. That means they can wait for the rest of the guys to get back tomorrow and then come up with a plan to finish the guy.... Life is good.

&&&

Juice sits up with Bobby, working their way through the last of the cherry brandy Hap's Mom got him for his birthday. It tastes horrible but, mixed with vodka and 7up it develops a kind of funky cough syrup flavour that's kinda addictive. 

He sleeps in the bunk house rather than go home to an empty bed, refuses to dwell on how totally whipped he is... 

He drags his sorry ass out of bed when Tig threatens him with the hose pipe, and spends the day alternately holding his head and groaning softly to himself. When he's proved himself utterly useless, and Bobby's just as bad, Opie tells them both to just disappear and Juice goes right back to bed.

&&&

Chibs suspects the stink that's been chasing him all the way down from the Hills might actually be him. Jesus, he is never gonna get used to Californian summers. 

When he finally clambers off his bike at Teller Morrow, late in the afternoon, his jeans are slimy with sweat, fucking lovely!

Jax is a step ahead of him, shakes his head dolefully at the state of them both. He calls over that he'll go tell the guys everything and Chibs nods, he's not about to waste time rehashing the events of the last two days when he can get out of his stinking clothes and into a nice cold shower. 

The club house is like a fucking sauna. Chibs makes it past the bar and through to the cool hallway that leads to the bunk rooms and heaves a sigh of relief. 

The hallway is silent. If he had to guess, Chibs would say that the guys are all away in their backyards, drinking and sunning themselves. He's got the run of the place. 

He reaches the first of the dorm rooms, fights the door open and finds the room beyond it bright with late afternoon sun. 

The sight that greets him makes him instantly forget all about his shower. He has scarcely enough presence of mind to turn the key in the lock.

Juicy is sprawled face down in the middle of the bed, wearing only his boxers. Creamy brown skin, slicked with sweat. Chibs has been thinking of nothing else for days.

He catches the heel of Juice's foot, tickles it briefly with his thumb, just to see if the lad's awake and instead of starting blearily, Juice just does this filthy full body stretch thing and sighs. 

'Hey, Juicy, you awake?' His voice sounds rusty to his own ears. 

Juice nods slowly and his face just kind of nuzzles the pillow. It's weirdly childlike and it shouldn't make Chibs feel jealous of the fucking pillow. 

He's still holding Juice's foot and he runs his palm up to the ankle and then the calf. 

When Chibs' hand reaches the back of Juice's knee, the skin soft and vulnerable, the younger man's legs shift apart just an inch and his hips twitch, like he's pressing his cock into the mattress. 

Maybe he is. 

Chibs' own is stirring, his brain coming up with all kinds of possibilities. 

Juice reaches up to catch his hand, tug him off balance so he's leaning closer. And then it's easy for Chibs to rest his hands on Juice's shoulders, slide them down his back. 

And from hands to lips, Chibs bows his head to press kisses to the back of Juice's neck, down his spine, Juicy writhing into each touch.

'Hey, lose your shirt. Wanna feel you.' Juice's voice is little more than a murmur. 

He does as he's told, loses his t shirt to the floor so that they are touching chest to back and Juicy arches up, the muscles bunching so he can better feel Chibs' skin against his own. 

He tugs Chibs' hand down into his boxers. 

Chibs wants in. The heat coming off Juicy is intense, gets hotter the closer he is to his erection, his skin clammy and slick. 

Juicy groans into the pillow and pushes his ass back against Chibs lap. 'Want it.' 

Chibs licks wet stripes up Juice's back, pulls his shorts down to reveal his perfect arse and kicks his way out of his own jeans and shorts. 

Chibs cock is an angry red. He can't remember the last time he was this hard. He casts around for lube, tucks one thumb into Juice's hole, just to watch his reaction and Juice's hips go wild, pushing back and pumping forward to writhe against the mattress. 

Juice gets his bent knees under him and tries to push back but Chibs is having none of it, he wants Juicy like this, prone against the bed.

Inside, Juice is even hotter, if such a thing is even possible. Chibs works the lube in around the spasming muscles and stretches him out with another finger. Against the pillow, Juice whines. 'Come on, do it.' 

Chibs would like to keep him like this, on the edge. Would like to work him open with his tongue, stubbled jaw brushing against the underside of the younger man's balls, making him sweat and beg some more. 

There's no time for that though. Instead he slicks his own cock, pushes Juice's legs farther apart and presses himself in. 

Juicy cries out, muffles it against the pillow, his shoulders lifting against Chibs' lips. 

Chibs' hand is hard on Juice's cock, Juice guiding Chibs' fingers with his own, down to the base and then up, feather light over the head. Chibs presses his thumbnail to the slit and Juice's world narrows to a sharp point.

Juice is a solid mass of coiling muscle, shifting and writhing and milking Chibs' cock. He comes in a flash of desperation, presses his face into the space between the other man's shoulder blades and rides it out. 

For a long time the two men just lie there breathing, the room thick with the smell of sweat and sex.

Juice wriggles free, turns over and it's cold where they separate. He presses himself close again, lying on his side and facing Chibs, licks softly at Chibs lips, follows up with a kiss that's whisper soft and sexy as hell. 

Chibs slides his hand up to cup Juice's head and pulls him back in for more, swallows down Juice's little hum of pleasure. 

When they separate, Chibs presses a little kiss to his nose and runs one thumb down his cheek. 'Missed me, then?' 

Juicy shrugs, settles back in the bed. 'Yeah, a bit.' He pulls Chibs back in for another kiss before he can swat him for being a cheeky shit. 'Did you see the others? They tell you my news?'

'Nope, what's up?'

Juice pulls back, grins. 'I found Zobelle.'

'What? You're shitting me!'

'Yep. Found his home address!' Juice does a little victory dance, which, lying flat out in a bed, with spunk all over his belly, looks pretty funny. 

Chibs can't resist tugging him closer, kissing his daft grin. He's pretty sure he's wearing an equally daft grin himself. 

'Just gotta come up with a plan and then...'

'Bye bye baby, baby bye bye!' Chibs sing songs and gives him a loud, smacking kiss. 

Juice grins and cuddles him closer, then, 'Uh, is that smell you?'

'Oh yessss...' Chibs tries to wrestle Juice's head into his arm pit but the kid's too fast and slides out of the bed and to the safety of the bathroom doorway.

'Come on, stinky, I'll scrub your back for you...'

Chibs is hardly going to argue with him.

&&&

As plans go, it's not the most exciting. Hap, Ope and Tiggy have been parked up down the block from Zobelle's house in various vans and cars, watching and taking note. When they report back to the others that the guy seems to be living in somewhat reduced circumstances than before, with less security, a grin ripples it's way around the room. 

'Compound's got a gate- manual, not electric,' says Happy. 'They gotta get out an' unlock it. We move fast enough, we can get him out the car before anyone knows what's up. We get him in the van, easy.' 

Juice has a weird kind of excitement uncoiling in his belly, like he's on a roller coaster and wants to be sick. He always gets this feeling when things are planning to get bloody, like he doesn't like it but wants to, or he knows he's got to do it, and better just deal. 

After Church he steps outside and the night air is cool as a mint on his skin.

'Hey, you alright with all this, brother?' Bobby follows him out, Chibs not far behind.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm good.'

'We do this any way you want, you know that, don't you? This action is on the club but I know you got more reason than any of us to want vengeance...'

'I know man. Thanks.' 

Bobby's a good guy, and he picks up on what's going on in people's heads but right now it's not Bobby Juice needs talking sense to him. 

Chibs squeezes his shoulder and hauls him into a head lock, kisses the side of his head and that sick feeling starts to fade. 'Hey, look at me.' Chibs loosens his grip a little but doesn't let go completely. 'You already did what no one else could- you found him. No one's gonna say anything about it if you decide to let your brothers finish this-'

'Huh? You mean, stay behind? No man, no way. I'm in. To the end.' 

Chibs looks at him long and hard, breaks into a grin, like that was the answer he was looking for and Juice hugs him back, pulls away before they forget themselves and give Bobby a show. 

'The stuff that guy ordered, I mean, Gemma an' Otto... Me getting shivved... nearly killing you, then they fuckin' tortured me... Guy's gotta... World's bad enough without scum like that.' 

'Kid's got a point man.' Bobby laughs, slaps Chibs on the arm and goes back inside. And all Chibs can do is just look at him, think to himself, the kid's utterly brilliant.

&&&

Catching the bogeyman shouldn't be this easy. 

Juice watches from behind the wheel of the van as the sedan pauses outside the house and it's driver gets out to go unlock the gate. 

Tig's up and in the car with a gun trained on Zobelle before the driver's even got to the gate and then, there's Happy with a blackjack and the guy's down.

Zobelle doesn't even really fight them when they haul him out of the sedan and into the back of the van. 

Juice pulls away nice and quiet and it's as if the neighbourhood never even realised there were four guys in balaclavas kidnapping one of it's citizens. 

He pulls his mask up so it's just a beanie hat and one by one the rest of the Sons do the same. 

Now Zobelle knows he's a dead man.

&&&

The ride is spent in silence. 

Chibs and Happy frisk Zobelle and once they're satisfied he's not got a tracker or a wire on him, they sit back and wait to get to their destination. 

Tig pulls the battery and SIM out of Zobelle's cell phone, squishes and tosses each component out of the window in the passenger side. 

It's completely dark when they arrive at the waste ground where the others are waiting. 

Zobelle must have been rehearsing his speech during the ride because the minute he sets eyes on Clay and Jax he starts in on what a big mistake they're making and how there are a half dozen guys out there, no different than he is and that they can't fight progress, 

'The world keeps turning, Jackson,' Zobelle says, his feet stubborn on the ground when Tig tries to move him. 'We both know it's only a matter of time before someone else comes to take your place running Charming and what then?' He looks up expectantly at the VP, like he's expecting a response. 

Jax's expression remains flat.

'I can offer protection and business opportunities. The others that will come can only offer more pain and more death-'

'You seriously believe that we would go into business with you?'

'I believe that you're a smart man, Mister Teller. I believe that unlike your 'brothers' you recognise the need to change, to forge new alliances.'

'Son, let's not waste any more time on this piece of shit.' Clay steps between them, his back to Zobelle, looks Jax in the eye and Jax pauses, nods and turns back to Zobelle.

'You raped my mother, nearly murdered three of my brothers. You tortured one of us-'

'No, those were not my orders, they-' Now Zobelle starts to struggle, wants to get his point across. He's proud of the things he's done but he's not putting his hand up to what happened to Juice. 

Chibs feels bile rising in his throat. He looks around the group, the way Jax's jaw is set, the way Juice stands back a pace or two, his eyes downcast as he steadies himself for what he's expected to do.

Boy ain't doing this: it'll haunt him. Chibs though, he's got enough rage in him and what's one more thing to sit up at night over? 

He remembers the mess they found Juice in, limp, bleeding, not breathing. He remembers having to breathe into the younger man's mouth, praying that the air he breathed into him would bring him back to life. 

He remembers the sight of the lad, pale and weak in the hospital bed, how long it took him to recover, to be able to ride again. 

He remembers the nightmares, Juice gasping awake in the dead of night, his eyes wide and panicked. He'd tried to comfort the younger man but in his sleep, Chibs' arms became like the chains that had bound him and in the end, Chibs had had to force himself away. 

He draws his gun and puts the muzzle against Zobelle's head, takes satisfaction in the desperate little moan the man gives at the touch of cold steel. 

'You piece a corporate shit. You think it wasn't personal, don't yer?' He cocks the gun and the sound is loud in the darkness. 'Think your beliefs give you the right? You got no fucking idea-'

'Chibs, hey man, it's okay-' Tig's voice is soothing, or trying to be. He shakes it off.

'-Scum like you does not deserve to live.' Chibs doesn't realise his gun hand is shaking, his vision swimming until he feels a familiar hand on his arm, Juice, his face sad.

'Chibbie, it's okay. This is on me, not you-' Juice shifts his hand to cover Chibs' own on the gun, coax it from his grip.

'No, come on Juicy, you do this, it'll stay with you. He's not worth it-'

'An' it won't haunt you? Come on man... For me, just... don't.' 

Chibs looks around at the others, waits for one of them to say something, tell him it's okay, kill him but no one does. 

Juice hands the gun to Tig, guides Chibs away quietly with a hand at his back. 

&&&

Zobelle feels a moment of cool, clean relief. 

He has time, he still has time. 

Jax Teller is a smart man, can recognise what value Zobelle can be to his club. He is capable of understanding that sometimes you have to be willing to do what the other guy won't. 

The young man JP tortured for information on Samcro is just one of their infantry, Jax knows that, knows that some things are more important than simple revenge.

Another man walks over, his face hard and soulless. Nathan recognises him as Happy, a curious choice of name- he guesses they were aiming for irony. 

'I can't be reasoned with,' Happy says, eyes glinting, catlike in the headlights. 'I'm gonna kill you and like it.'

&&&

From twenty feet away, the knife in Zobelle's flesh sounds like remorseless butchery.

Juice hugs Chibs close, fingers soothing over the nape of his neck. If he was smart, he'd hope the rest weren't watching. 

They hear the thud of a body hitting the ground and know that finally, it's over. 

&&&

Chibs won't sleep tonight. He slumps into one of the stools at the bar, takes the glass someone pushes into his hand. He barely tastes anything. 

Killing's not something he's ever gotten used to. Even scum like Jimmy O keep him awake at night, rattling their chains. Sometimes though, sometimes it's something you've gotta do- to keep the people you care about safe. 

He'd have killed Zobelle for Juicy, not just to keep him safe, but to keep him from the guilt that comes with killing for revenge. 

Chibs never wants to see Juice sitting up sleepless at four in the morning, arguing with ghosts and bargaining with a god that doesn't exist.

Across the bar, Tig is hugging Juicy close, saying something that makes the kid nod earnestly, hug him back. They both glance over in his direction and Tig says something to Juice that makes him smile, not the daft grin he usually has on his face, but something softer, the smile that says it all. 

The two men separate and Juice wanders over, bumps Chibs shoulder with his own, up-ends a glass of Scotch down his gullet and scowls.

'God that's nasty...' He chases the taste away with the beer one of the prospects passes him and turns to lean against the bar, looks out on the rest of his brothers, stood around drinking and talking in low voices. 

'You okay?' He asks softly and Chibs nods. 'Wanna get out of here?' He says even more quietly. Chibs straightens up, drains his glass.

Outside, it's pitch dark and there's no one around. Chibs grabs Juice into a soft headlock, presses a kiss to the back of his head, right where his stupid haircut ends in a point. Releases him and climbs onto his bike before the kid can react.

It's freezing cold out but that's not so bad, they'll be home in no time at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Falling is like this by Ani Difranco
> 
> you give me that look that's like laughing  
> with liquid in your mouth  
> like you're choosing between choking  
> and spitting it all out  
> like you're trying to fight gravity  
> on a planet that insists  
> that love is like falling  
> and falling is like this
> 
> feels like reckless driving when we're talking  
> it's fun while it lasts, and it's faster than walking  
> but no one's going to sympathize when we crash  
> they'll say "you hit what you head for, you get what you ask"  
> and we'll say we didn't know, we didn't even try  
> one minute there was road beneath us, the next just sky
> 
> i'm sorry i can't help you, i cannot keep you safe  
> i'm sorry i can't help myself, so don't look at me that way  
> we can't fight gravity on a planet that insists  
> that love is like falling  
> and falling is like this.


End file.
